It was never hard to spot Jacob Pullen on the floor during a Kansas State game. He was the four-year guard with lethal long-distance range and a Gimme The Damn Ball look in crunch time.

It’s not hard to pick him out of a crowd on the streets of Barcelona, where he signed with one of Europe’s top clubs a year ago, either. Pullen, fresh off of practice, moves slowly in a purple sweatshirt and gray sweatpants. His trademark beard, which falls about an inch below his chin, looks just as it did the day he last stepped on the court for K-State.

We’ve planned to meet at 9 p.m. at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Barcelona. He arrives right on time, but the long wait for a table there doesn’t seem worth it to him. “I know another good place,” he says. “They like me there.”

He leads us to a crowded restaurant nearby, only we’re seated quickly—upstairs, away from much of the noise where my tape recorder has a prayer. Pullen orders for both of us in Spanish, a tool he’s sharpened since arriving in Spain. Then again, maybe it needs a little more refining.

“I don’t know what that is,” Pullen, perplexed, says as a plate of something he did not mean to order is placed between us. “I’ve never had that.”

We fixate our attention on the mysterious plate. It appears to me to be a beef jerky-ish dish. Pullen disagrees. Perhaps thinly-sliced dried fruit?

No matter. Pullen bravely takes a bite and survives. “It’s not bad,” he assures me. By the time I timidly nibble on a piece, he’s already jumped back into our old conversation.

“That was the toughest loss I’ve ever had, man. I wanted to go to the Final Four so bad. It was the only thing I ever wanted.”

***

For a gifted 24-year-old, Pullen has a long hoops story to tell. Growing up around Chicago and playing against the likes of Iman Shumpert and Patrick Beverley, it wasn’t easy for Pullen to make a name for himself as a high-schooler. A late bloomer by his own admission, he figured he was destined for a low-DI school until a strong Nike All-American camp put him on higher ground. Teams like Marquette and Oklahoma suddenly showed interest.

He also managed to catch the attention of Dalonte Hill, an assistant at Kansas State. Hill asked then-fellow assistant Frank Martin to give Pullen a look, and Martin obliged. Unsurprisingly, it turned into a classic love-at-first-sight tale. Sort of.

“The first time he touched it, he shot an airball that missed the rim by six feet,” Martin recalls over the phone. “But he got down, guarded the guy that was bringing the ball up the floor, created a turnover, ran down, took the next shot and buried a three. I said, I like that kid.”

When Pullen showed up to school months later, he had neither mega-hype nor a guaranteed starting spot. He’d have to earn his minutes in practice going against a freshman who did carry some celebrity status, Michael Beasley. The dominant forward was accompanied by a fast-rising, high-flying redshirt freshman who had generated substantial buzz as well: Bill Walker.

“I played against Mike so much in AAU that we kinda had a rivalry before we got to K-State,” Walker recently told SLAM. “Out of mutual respect, I think we chose to play together in college because of those battles.”

The friendly rivalry only grew more intense under coach Martin.

“We never had a good practice unless you put one on the other to make ‘em mad,” Pullen begins, referring to the Wildcats’ two superstars. “The minute one scored on the other one, that was the best practice you’ll ever see us have. ‘Cause they would go at it all practice. Michael would score and say, ‘Bill I’m gonna get 200 today, you can’t guard me!’ Bill would just come down and dunk on him. I remember having practices where they were on the same team, they would sub out, and sit on the sideline and eat sunflower seeds! Spittin’ in the cup eating sunflower seeds while we’re practicing, you know, just running up and down.”

Pullen must have made a little noise in practice, too, because he opened his freshman season as coach Martin’s starting point guard. His debut couldn’t have gone much better: 18 points and 5 dimes in a blowout win against Sacramento State.

***

Between January 18, 1994 and January 29, 2008, the Kansas Jayhawks held a 35-1 record over the Wildcats. On January 30 of ’08, No. 2 Kansas marched into their matchup with No. 22 Kansas State confident that the result would be a lot more of the same. But these were Michael Beasley and Bill Walker’s Wildcats, and their school was sick of playing second fiddle.

That night, Beasley and Walker each shot 9-18 from the floor and combined for 47 points. The team built a two-possession lead with over a minute left, when a 6-foot-nothin’ point guard from Maywood, IL, nailed home a pair of backbreaking free throws. Pullen, the finisher, shot 10-10 from the stripe on his way to 20 points in the W. (1:40 below)

Led by Beasley and Walker, Kansas State started that ’07-08 season with an 18-6 record. The team stumbled late, though, and entered March Madness as a No. 11 seed. They were able to quickly upset OJ Mayo’s Trojans, but fell to Wisconsin the following game in the Round of 32.

Pullen scored just four points in 22 minutes against the Badgers. That June, Beasley was selected second overall by the Heat, and Walker by the Celtics 35 slots later.

“I always think about the possibilities of us staying together,” says Walker, reflecting on the dozens of K-State wins and trio of tournament runs left on the board after he and Beasley declared.

The following season, with the team largely broken up, its biggest stars stolen by the NBA, Kansas State struggled to find a groove. The team didn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament and was eliminated in the second round of the NIT tourney by San Diego State. Pullen scored just 3 points to close out what had been an otherwise solid sophomore campaign.

Instead of rolling into Year Three of the Beasley/Walker/Pullen trio, K-State was unranked entering the 2009-10 season.

Pullen didn’t like the sound of that.

The Wildcats cracked the top-25 in both the AP and coaches’ polls just over a month into the season, and closed the year as the consensus No. 7. Pullen and Dennis Clemente formed a dynamite backcourt, and they found a gem in big man Curtis Kelly, a Junior transfer from UConn.

In March of 2010, Kansas State earned a No. 2 seed in the same NCAA tournament that had eluded them the previous season.

The team rolled into a Sweet 16 matchup with Jordan Crawford’s Xavier squad. In a marathon of a game, Pullen pulled off the following three plays:

23.6 seconds left in regulation. Pullen for three. 70-67 Kansas State.32.9 seconds left in the first OT. Pullen layup. 86-84 Kansas State.31.2 seconds left in the second OT. Pullen for three. 97-94 Kansas State.

His final bucket iced the game. Clemente and Kelly combined for 48 points themselves, and, for the first time in his career, Pullen was on to the Elite 8.

There, though, he ran into an upstart Butler team spearheaded by Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack destined for a title appearance. The lost opportunity still stings Pullen.

“My junior year, that was the best team we had,” Pullen declares. But fatigue wore on the team following its battle against Xavier. The Wildcats shot just 38.5 percent from the floor against Butler. It cemented another season of heartbreak for Kansas State, and altered Pullen’s career path.

“If we would have made it to the final four my junior year, I woulda entered,” Pullen explains. “Everybody said, Oh you woulda been a late-first round, second-round pick your junior year, you had a great year, and all of that. I just wanted to go back to school man.”

***

Three full years and one month after the Wildcats’ monumental upset over Kansas, the two teams matched up again. This time, Kansas was ranked No. 1 in the country. This time, Kansas was dealing with Pullen’s Wildcats.

Kansas State was again unranked when the game tipped off. The No. 1 team in the NCAA facing off against an unranked opponent usually ends up as a laugher.

Only nobody was laughing as the game wore on. Unless you count the always-expressive Pullen, who must have had some fun dropping 38 on the Jayhawks’ collective heads in a shocking blowout home victory.

K-State’s strong finish earned them a No. 5 seed in the 2011 Dance, where they knocked off Utah State in the first round. Round 2 brought a matchup with Wisconsin, and in it a shot for revenge, three years after Wisco bounced K-State to end Pullen’s freshman year.

The performance, masterful as it was, would go down as his final act for Kansas State. Led by a more balanced scoring attack, Wisconsin cold-heartedly sent Pullen into the world of Draft experts, game-tape nitpickers and, ultimately, the true hardwood. Or so we thought.

***

“The crying shame is that Jacob went out his senior year and dominated college basketball coming down the stretch—set a career-high in the last game he ever played, set the school record for points in a career in the last game he ever played—and yet he went from possible late-first, early-second to not being drafted at all,” coach Martin, now at South Carolina, complained to SLAM while channeling much of the emotion he’s become famous for.

Pullen, a student of the game’s sometimes-ugly business end, was far less bothered by the outcome. He understood well that only first-round picks immediately earn guaranteed contracts in the NBA. As the 2012 Draft slipped into its second round, he decided it was best to go unselected.

“I didn’t want someone to control my rights, and send me to a bad team in Europe or the D-League,” Pullen reasons. “A D-League player makes at the best about $20,000 before taxes. You could work at McDonald’s and make more money than that for a whole year.”

Instead of being selected into uncertainty, Pullen took his talents to Italy for a season, followed by a year in Israel. Finally, in August of last year, he wound up with the team Martin has enthusiastically titled “the L.A. Lakers of Europe.”

His long-distance ventures have earned him a secondary perk. Pullen met a number of American players abroad. One such player was in Milan and earning 1.5 million euros annually while averaging 3 points and 1.5 assists per game. Naturally, Pullen wondered how those numbers added up.

The player’s contract stemmed from a law which varies in degree from country-to-country, but establishes a limit on the number of American players a European team can have on its roster. As Pullen detailed, international leagues know that all-American rosters would play top-notch ball, but also irritate home fans.

Some clubs don’t love the rule and try to get around it. If an American player owns a European passport, he can technically be counted as a European on the roster. It’s beneficial to both the team, which maintains the right to sign a different American, and the player, who gains leverage in contract negotiations.

“You look at good teams, and they find a way to get Americans,” Pullen begins. “Most of the times it’s with a passport. That’s a smart thing to do.”

Pullen briefly caught on with the Suns back in the summer of 2012. In Phoenix, he crossed paths with Igor Kokoškov, an assistant coach who also ran the Georgian national team.

“He asked me if I wanted to join the team and get a passport, and I was like, Yeah,” Pullen recalls. “Now every high-level team in Europe will sign me ‘cause I have a [non-US] passport. A [non-US] passport is a lot of money over here. You get one of those things, you’re like gold, man—everybody wants you.”

Pullen’s skills haven’t hurt his chances of signing a lucrative contract, either. He broke the Spanish single-game three-point record with 12 in March. His Barcelona club reached the Eurobasket Final Four in May, but fell to Madrid in the semi-finals.

Pullen’s one-year deal with the team is up, but he expects to sign a new multi-year contract. And why shouldn’t he?

“I do my homework, man,” Pullen says with a smile. “I got a three-bedroom condo here with a hot tub and a grill in the back to myself. It’s 70 degrees most of the year. I really can’t complain.”

Looking to bulk up their front line for the postseason, the Knicks have acquired big man Dan Gadzuric, and were forced to let go small forward Bill Walker to make space for their new center. The NY Posthas the details: “Mike Woodson announced that the Knicks will sign 6-11 journeyman center Dan Gadzuric and waive swingman Bill Walker in a move to provide depth and insurance for the playoffs. Gadzuric, 34, an athletic big man out of UCLA, will be added in case Amar’e Stoudemire and Jared Jeffries break down in the playoffs. Prior to signing with the Knicks, Gadzuric played for the Texas Legends in the D-League and overseas in China. Gadzuric’s last NBA action came last season when he played for the Nets, appearing in 14 games. Gadzuric had played eight seasons for the Bucks after UCLA. ‘It gives us another big,’ Woodson said. ‘Just in case Jared is not able to come back from his rest. It gives us a veteran big that’s been around that could use fouls and rebound.'”

The thrilling Knicks/Celtics game yesterday ended on an ugly note, as an angry Kevin Garnett pushed Bill Walker in the neck after missing the game-tying shot. Newsday captured Walker’s reaction: “After Bill Walker contested Kevin Garnett’s unsuccessful attempt to tie the score in the final seconds, the two former Celtics teammates exchanged harsh words. Garnett then put his left hand on Walker’s throat before the two were separated, first by injured Knicks guard Baron Davis. ‘I guess he got mad that I contested his shot,’ said Walker, who had scrambled to cover Garnett after colliding with Tyson Chandler, who was supposed to be guarding the Celtic. ‘He grabs my hand, tangles it up, I pulled my hand away and then we had a situation.’ Did Walker do anything to provoke Garnett? ‘I’m a grown man,’ he said. ‘You’re putting your hands in my face … Come on. Y’all know what the man does.’ Walker said he was unsure precisely where Garnett made contact with him. ‘I don’t know where he caught me,’ he said. ‘I just know I saw his hand coming in my face, you know what I mean? That’s disrespectful.’ Garnett declined to discuss the incident with reporters.”

Below is footage of various NBA players in their adolescence, all rawer than sushi. There are clips from both the high school and AAU circuit, with some epic matchups: Ty Lawson and Kevin Durant taking on Blake Griffin; Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon going possesion-for-possesion with Tyreke Evans; Akron LeBron vs. Oak Hill Carmelo; and more. Individual highlight reels are also on display (Kobe, T-Mac, etc..), forming a wide spectrum of eras and athletes. We’ve even got Allen Iverson pre-Georgetown and Kyrie Irving giving us a glimpse of the future. Enough with words—I’ll let the moving pictures do the talking.

Anybody want Bill Walker on their team in exchange for a low-rent PG? Anyone? Anyone? Is this thing on? The NY Times reports: “The Knicks have made inquiries to other teams about acquiring a low-cost backup point guard to preserve the starter Raymond Felton, according to two N.B.A. executives with knowledge of the organization’s discussions. The Knicks are looking at players whose contracts expire at the end of the season in order to keep their salary-cap space for the summer. They are willing to part with Bill Walker, according to the executives.”

Sounds like emotions got the best of these players. Bill Walker says the media’s blown the incident out of proportion. From Newsday: “[…] when Bill Walker caught [Shawne Williams] with a hard foul early in a post-practice scrimmage here at The Olympic Club on Thursday, Williams got up and went right after Walker, furious with the overzealous foul. The players had to be separated and Williams had to be restrained by two teammates, including Eddy Curry, as he clearly wanted a piece of Walker, who glared back. It took a few minutes for his emotions to cool and when the game resumed, Walker went right next to Williams to guard him again. But the remainder of the game went without incident.”

The Junior Knicks League’s playoffs tipped off Saturday at the infamous “Soul in the Hole” Park in Brooklyn. Action included an overtime thriller in the 13-and-under finals, as well as playoff games for the 15-and-under and 18-and-under divisions (championship games for those leagues will be held next weekend). But, for many of the park’s visitors, the day’s most exciting moment came when a familiar gentleman entered the park, walking peacefully as if he was strolling along the beach. The man was Knicks alum and broadcaster Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who couldn’t manage four or five steps without being swarmed for autographs, pictures and handshakes. Former Knicks player and TV analyst Cal Ramsey also came out, and I was able to snag a couple of minutes with each for a pair of quick interviews.

———–
SLAM: So what brings you to the park?
Walt “Clyde” Frazier: Just checking out the youth program by the Knicks. We always try to lend our support to younger kids, and try to inspire them, not only on the court but off the court. Education, as you know, is a big factor, [as is] abstinence from drugs. I just feel compelled to try to give back. I haven’t played in 30 years, but as you can see…

SLAM: You get a lot of love.
WF: Yeah, so I try to give it back. I’m reciprocating.

SLAM: How do you stay busy all summer?
WF: Mostly in the Virgin Islands; I have a house there, and rented properties that I rent out. So occasionally the Knicks will call me to come into the City for a function like this, and I come back. But usually around October is back when I’m based in New York.

SLAM: You seem to be very relaxed, laid back. Do you maintain this all season, or is it just a summer thing?
WF: (Laughs.) All season. That’s one of the advantages of playing in New York, you get used to the attention and the exposure. So I guess over the years I’ve mellowed. I’ve learned to just go with the flow, and just take it all in.

SLAM: Any early opinions on the Knicks’ off-season moves?
WF: Yeah, I like them. Obviously if they didn’t lose LeBron, everybody would be very excited, so that’s the only stigma that’s overshadowing what they’ve done thus far. I think the acquisitions from Golden State should help us get better defensively. [Ronny] Turiaf, [Anthony] Randolph, these guys can intimidate inside. And of course Stoudemire. [Ray] Felton, I think, is an upgrade over [Chris] Duhon. He’s strong, he gets in the paint, he can shoot. So I think there’s a good nucleus they have going, [but] you know they’ve had a good nucleus. Now it’s our time to step up. They’ve got to make the playoffs this year.

SLAM: The main criticism of Coach D’Antoni, which you touched upon, has always been a lack of focus on defense. Do you think that’ll change?
WF: I hope so. These guys can play D, we know that. So he has to hold them accountable. He’s gotta get on them and make sure they do what they’re supposed to do, because as far as shooting—you know the Knicks are saying we need another shooter, that’s true too—but what if you held a team to four less points? You know, that’s defense. Looking at just one aspect, that we need another shooter, we also need some intensity on the defense. That would help as well.

SLAM: What were your thoughts on LeBron’s Decision?
WF: I was shocked, man. How could he turn on New York? I thought, man, this guy wanted this challenge. Because when these guys come to the Garden, you see how they play?

[I look up and notice the growing line of people waiting for an autograph.]

SLAM: OK, last question. You’ve gained quite a reputation for your vocabulary and the rhyming phrases. Which phrase do you think you’ll be using to describe this year’s Knicks team?
WF: [pumps fist] Tenacity and sagacity! Yeah, they’ve got to bring the tenacity on the D, and play smart. They’ve got to play smart, team ball. And hey, there’s a lot of talent there, man.

———–

SLAM: What brings you to the park today?
Cal Ramsey: Well I’m here because this program was sponsored by the New York Knicks, as you know. It’s the Junior Knick League, and I’ve been supporting this event since its inception. As a matter of fact it started back in 1991, when we attempted to get every youngster in New York City involved with the Knicks summer basketball program. And there are other aspects of this program: Some of these kids get to come to play at the Garden at halftime and we have player visits to their faculties occasionally at Boys Clubs and YMCAs. When I was a kid I played in a program similar to this, so I’ve been a part of this all my life.

SLAM. How else do you stay involved with the Knicks?
CR: [I’m involved] very well; I go to every game, I go to Liberty games on Sundays, and I go to every NYU game. I’m an assistant coach at NYU and I’m director of community relations and a goodwill ambassador for the Knicks. So I’m at every home game, I work with the players and I come to events like this. I’m totally involved with the Knicks.

SLAM: What do you think of the team’s moves this off-season?
CR: They’re good so far. I’m curious about the big German kid [Anthony Randolph]—they say he’s a pretty good player, a good athlete. I love Stoudemire, obviously. We have a pretty good core to build around. [We have] Wilson Chandler, Billy Walker, and the draft pick they had, I haven’t seen him play yet but I hear he’s pretty good. So I’m optimistic.

SLAM: Do you think the team’s defensive mindset will improve?
CR: Well, you need athletes to play good defense, and I think we have some pretty good athletes now. [They have] the German kid. Hopefully Stoudemire will make a pretty big difference in the middle. They should be better defensively.

SLAM: So when are you suiting up and getting out there?
CR: (Laughs.) I’ve done my part. I talk to the kids, I sign autographs for the people, whatever they want me to do, I do. You know when I played, when I was 19, I averaged 20 rebounds a game in my sophomore year at NYU. And that was more than Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor.

SLAM: They played the same year as you?
CR: The same year, 1956, my sophomore year. Elgin averaged 18.3, Wilt averaged 18.0, and [I averaged] 19.6. (Laughs.) So print that!

Well, gonna deviate from standard form a bit here today. I took a complete night off from the NBA. Almost. The Raptors had their Red Party last night, which is a fundraiser for the MLSE’s Team Up foundation. I went not as media but as a guest and had a wonderful time. The surprise of the night came when we found out that Drake had been flown in to perform for the crowd of 800.

It was pretty great. Having him home in Toronto, performing for such an intimate group of people, repping the Raptors, it was lovely. Lovely because it made me think –as always– how thankful I am to get to do something I truly love with every ounce of my heart. Lovely because, I can only imagine how much of a whirlwind these past two years have been for Drake and how he is living his dream. Sure, his may involve lots of money, cars, clothes and “stuff” but at the core, he’s living out the life he wanted for himself. I feel like I’m beginning to scratch the surface of my dreams, and while I’m still wanting to work, work, work for more, I’m living it. And, loving it.

It was a great night.

Now, apparently, the Warriors did not have a great night. Neither did the Thunder. Both of these nuggets of info kind of upset me. Orlando smoked Golden State, 117-90 as Dwight finished with 28 points 12 rebounds and two of each: steals/blocks/assists. The Magic killed GS on the boards, 58-29. Um, yeah. Can you think of a game this season where another team has dominated on the glass so much?

By the look of these boxscores there were a whole bunch of blowouts. A whole bunch of games, too, but that’s beside the point. Seriously, how did OKC lose to Denver so badly. I know, second night of a back-to-back, but damn, 119-90. That’s tough. They ran all over them.

After the Nets managed just 15 points in the first quarter, they allowed the Cavs to lead by 20 after the opening 12 minutes and were never able to recover. LeBron finished with 26 points, 14 assists, seven boards, three steals and a block. Not too shabby. His guy JJ Hickson continues to get better as he had a big night and big double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Also: According to John Krolik, Delonte West was unavailable, Mo Williams was in foul trouble, and Daniel Gibson was out with a baby. Yeah, didn’t quite catch that without watching the game. Now you know.

In a Knicks win against Detroit, Bill Walker got his first start and scored 22 points on 13 field goal attempts. Yeah, he should continue to turn some heads as long as he gets time and stays healthy. After a few rocky performances, McGrady put in 21 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. If only he could have a night like this even every second game. David Lee continues to be a beast for New York, scoring 21 points and pulling down 18 rebounds while dishing eight assists. He also had three steals and a block, too. Add in 26 points for Al Harrington and the Pistons and their lack of D didn’t stand a chance.

In a Celtics 104-80 victory over the Bobcats, this stood out: Boston was 10-for-16 from the 3-point line while the Bobcats were 0-for-9. Yikes.

In a blowout, 100-87 loss to the Bucks, Shaun Livingston scored his first two points as a Washington Wizard. I can only hope there are many more NBA points scored for SL and he can score them for any franchise, as long as he’s suiting up to do it.

My man James Herbert aka @outsidethenba on Twitter informs me that the Rockets had prepared a highlight pack for Carl Landry as the Kings were in town. Wish I had been able to see that. If you did, let me know about it, below, thanks! In Houston, the Kings pulled off the 84-81 victory. They also pulled down 24 offensive rebounds and attempted 23 more field goal attempts because of them. Crazy. What’s crazy good was Landry hitting the “game-sealing” free throws in his old home arena and finishing with 22 points and 10 boards.

Meanwhile, the Mavs keep rolling and took down the TWolves, winning their ninth straight. Surprised? Not surprised? I kinda thought it would take the new guys a little longer to slide into the offense, but they’ve proven me wrong. I don’t like being wrong, but I do like good basketball. I’m enjoying the new look Mavs.

One of the most anticipated match-ups tonight in the NCAA Tournament will involve USC and Kansas State. And while we at SLAM have always been big supporters of both USC’s Fresh Prince and K-State’s Number One Stunna, don’t forget Mike Beasley’s teammate Bill Walker. Here’s what we wrote about Bill Walker back in SLAM issue 105…

Into The Wild

With his arrival at Kansas State, Bill Walker finds himself in uncharted territory. But if you’ve seen him play, you know he’s got the talent & focus to find his way.

By Ben Osborne

Directly across the street from the Kansas State University athletics facilities is the school’s Hal Ross Flour Mill, which is part of the school’s Department of Grain Science and Industry. A sprawling 16-acre complex that also includes the International Grains Program Conference Center and fields dark and massive enough to send a quiver of fear down the spine of this Brooklyn-residing writer, it’s a setting that does not exactly evoke thoughts of basketball. The college game may have its share of heartland heritage in this country, but in recent decades it’s become a sport increasingly dominated by urban-bred ballers who are more comfortable in the bricks than the sticks. As such, it’s no surprise that—with all due respect to past greats Rolando Blackman and Mitch Richmond—the number of stud ballers who have come to this Midwest Manhattan is small.

So why am I out here, shivering in the dusk of late autumn, as a photographer snaps photos in the shadows of the flour mill? The reason is the recently matriculated student-athlete Bill Walker, and if he lives up to the expectations people have for him, there figure to be a lot more media members following me out here.

The Punks readers among you should know Walker by now: a 6-6, 225-pound Vince Carter-in-training who spent the last two high school seasons (and part of a third) at Cincinnati’s North College Hill HS, running alongside OJ Mayo and aggressively taking on defenders with as electrifying a style of play as prep watchers have seen in years. And, as you same fans also know, Walker is now a Wildcat.

“I would say I’m happy here,” Walker says a couple of weeks before he’s eligible to suit up in his first college game. “It’s just different when you come down from Cincinnati to Manhattan, Kansas. I’d never been here before and it’s a culture shock, but I’m a quiet guy, so I fit in around here.”

In interviews—and away from the court in general—Bill Walker is indeed a quiet, thoughtful 19-year-old, with a girlfriend back in Ohio and so resolute a focus on his NBA future that he doesn’t have time for nonsense.

Funny, then, that so much else about him is loud. For one thing, there’s the way Walker plays. Attacking the rim, eagerly chasing loose balls and hustling to stop opposing scorers, he is an impossible-to-miss force of nature whenever he’s in a game. As new K-State coach Bob Huggins says, “I’ve seen Bill play since probably eighth or ninth grade, and besides the fact that he was always really athletic, the thing that stood out about him is that he plays with a great spirit. And that is still true.”

For another, there’s all that has been written and said about Walker by the basketball-observing press. When your high school hoop career is orchestrated more like that of a professional athlete’s, these things happen. Along with his mother and sister, Walker moved to Cincy from his hometown of Huntington, WV, during the eighth grade. The move was prompted by the advice of Walker’s AAU coach and father figure, Dwaine Barnes, who also brought Mayo to Cincy and helped enroll them both at North College Hill. For two seasons, NCH was the talk of the high school basketball world, winning consecutive titles and packing gyms throughout Ohio. There was also enough discussion of the pair’s careers and future that the Cincinnati Enquirer could’ve run a serial called “OJ and Bill” and sold tons of copies.

The hype around Mayo and Walker reached a crescendo last summer, when Mayo transferred back “home” to Huntington High and Walker was ruled ineligible by LeBron’s old friends at the Ohio High School Athletic Association for having played high school games at his previous school in ’02-03 before enrolling at NCH later that same year. Unable to play at the high school he’d grown comfortable at, but possessing nearly enough credits to get his diploma, Walker considered two choices: enroll at a prep school for one year, or graduate high school early and start playing college ball ASAP.

Motivated in large part by the fact that Huggins, who Walker had always wanted to play for, had a new team that was desperate for big-time players, Walker wrapped up his high school requirements, got cleared by the NCAA and moved to the Little Apple. As we went to press, lift-off was scheduled for the first game after first semester ends—December 17 in K-State’s case.

“I was disappointed, but I couldn’t let it break me,” Walker says of the OHSAA’s ruling. “I’ll always remember all the people that came to the games there and the fans that appreciated us. I was happy that I could bring some excitement to the community. But I had to find another way, another route, and I did that.”

While Walker concedes that he would have loved to say a proper goodbye to the NCH fans and play in the McDonald’s All-American Game as a high school senior, he doesn’t hesitate in saying that college was the best move for his game. “Going to prep school and playing against the same guys again, there wouldn’t have been any point,” he reasons. “It wouldn’t have been as much fun, and I want to challenge myself. I’m really looking forward to this challenge of playing against college guys.”

Bill’s not the only one gassed. “We can’t wait,” says Huggins. “I don’t know how soon he’ll be ready to play a whole game, but we’re going to play him as much as possible.”

During a 16-year career at the University of Cincinnati that ended prior to the 2005-06 season, Huggins often attracted even more attention than OJ and Bill, with his winning ways (a 399-127 mark at Cincinnati) mitigated in some people’s opinions by his insistence on recruiting troubled kids and a DUI arrest in ’04. Basketball-wise, he earned a rep for working his players very hard, demanding aggressive play at both ends of the floor. In any event, Huggins has long been able to attract top talent, and that hasn’t changed even at Kansas State, where the quiet atmosphere is coupled with a program that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since ’96. But with Huggins there, the Wildcats’ lack of hoops history didn’t matter to Walker.

“I wanted to play for Bob Huggins. If he would have stayed at Cincinnati, I would have been a Bearcat,” Walker says before explaining his logic. “It’s his intensity. He wants to win, and he takes that to another level. He’s not going to let anybody slack, and he’s going to jump on everybody the same, every time. It’s not like because I’m who I am, he’s not going to say anything to me. He’s going to get on me like I’m the twelfth man. That’s what I came for. I know with his work ethic together with mine, we can do some great things.”

Without making any firm predictions, Huggins says, “I know that Bill’s going to be able to do a lot out on the court. For his whole life on the court, he’s been going to the basket and having success. But he’s worked on his shooting to the point that he is a very good shooter. He just doesn’t think that way all the time. If they’re going to play way off him and give him open shots, he’s going to need to step up and take them.”

“Everyone sees the scoring, but the thing about that is that my game isn’t just built around scoring,” says Walker, who averaged 21.7 ppg and 10.1 rpg last season at NCH. “I plan on coming in and doing a little of everything: helping the team rebound, getting assists, getting steals, being a force on the defensive end. I have goals—I want to be one of the best players in the NCAA, and I want to take this team to the Tournament. They haven’t been to the Tournament in 10 years, and I want to be part of the first group of guys that does it. I’m working toward that.”

Walker seems far too committed to winning to give K-State anything less than his best effort for as long as he’s wearing purple and white. But, even more than most top-10 prospects, he’ll be putting in his work with one eye firmly on the next level. “I’ve been looking at the NBA as where I was headed since the 10th grade,” he says. “I watch NBA games all the time, and I do it as an opponent of those guys. I still love watching them—I’m entertained and taken in by it—but at the same time, once I knew that was what I wanted to be, I watched more intently on what guys do and I started to take moves from some guys and implement that in my game.”

For Walker, no one gets copied more than VC. “I like how he evolved from being an all-out dunker to a shooter where guys had to play him honest,” Bill says. “Like Vince, I’m never going to be labeled as a jump shooter—I’m a slasher. But I do plan on adding that to my game so that it can be easier to do what I like to do.”

Pardon all the “ifs” in this sentence, but if Bill Walker was a high school senior this year, and if the NBA hadn’t banned high school seniors from the Draft, he probably would’ve skipped the chance to play for Huggins and gone right to the League as a sure-shot Lottery pick. Now he’s a college freshman, and the NBA is still saying he can’t enter the ’07 Draft because that’s when his high school class would have graduated. Considering the fact that Walker is 18 days older than Lakers’ second-year big man
Andrew Bynum, figuring out why Walker can’t enter the NBA next season is enough to make my brain hurt. Still, despite admissions from someone close to Walker that “if Bill sets the world on fire this season I think he would explore whether or not he could get in this year’s Draft,” Bill won’t expend much energy on the topic for now. “That’s not up to me,” he says. “All I can do is just handle my situation and just be the best player I can be, so that when the time comes I can be ready to do what I have to do. If that’s in another year, it’s in another year.”

And if he doesn’t play well enough to justify such an accelerated path to the bigs, or if the NBA gets legal backing to keep Walker out, dude does have one hell of a consolation prize ready to join him in Manhattan.

Michael Beasley, a good friend from the summer hoops circuit and arguably the top player in the high school class of 2007, has signed on to be a Wildcat next season. “Me and Mike will fit nicely together,” Bill says. “He’s a competitive guy and I’m a competitive guy, so us being on the same team could be great.”

Until that day comes, every game Kansas State plays with Walker in the lineup will find Bill being the most watched player on the team—and, except for matchups with the future pros at Kansas, the entire court. “It’s been that way for him for the past four years,” says Huggins. “Yes, he had OJ Mayo with him, but I think who got the most attention between them depended on the day. Some days people left the gym saying ‘OJ Mayo is unbelievable,’ and some days they left saying, ‘Bill Walker is unbelievable.’ So I think he’s used to that.”

With a twinkle in his eye as bright as the stars now coming into focus above us, and the most emotion of any response he’s given all day, Walker addresses the “pressure” he’ll face as the face of a resurgent program: “Pressure defines who you are. Sometimes it causes people to break”—and he pauses before continuing with a smile—“sometimes it causes people to break records. I’m really looking forward to that.”

Meaning Big 12 opponents may soon find a trip to Manhattan as daunting as I did.

With his arrival at Kansas State, Bill Walker finds himself in uncharted territory. But if you’ve seen him play, you know he’s got the talent & focus to find his way.

Words :: Ben Osborne

Portraits :: Edward Sczudlo

Directly across the street from the Kansas State University athletics facilities is the school’s Hal Ross Flour Mill, which is part of the school’s Department of Grain Science and Industry. A sprawling 16-acre complex that also includes the International Grains Program Conference Center and fields dark and massive enough to send a quiver of fear down the spine of this Brooklyn-residing writer, it’s a setting that does not exactly evoke thoughts of basketball. The college game may have its share of heartland heritage in this country, but in recent decades it’s become a sport increasingly dominated by urban-bred ballers who are more comfortable in the bricks than the sticks. As such, it’s no surprise that—with all due respect to past greats Rolando Blackman and Mitch Richmond—the number of stud ballers who have come to this Midwest Manhattan is small.

So why am I out here, shivering in the dusk of late autumn, as a photographer snaps photos in the shadows of the flour mill? The reason is the recently matriculated student-athlete Bill Walker, and if he lives up to the expectations people have for him, there figure to be a lot more media members following me out here.

The Punks readers among you should know Walker by now: a 6-6, 225-pound Vince Carter-in-training who spent the last two high school seasons (and part of a third) at Cincinnati’s North College Hill HS, running alongside OJ Mayo and aggressively taking on defenders with as electrifying a style of play as prep watchers have seen in years. And, as you same fans also know, Walker is now a Wildcat.

“I would say I’m happy here,” Walker says a couple of weeks before he’s eligible to suit up in his first college game. “It’s just different when you come down from Cincinnati to Manhattan, Kansas. I’d never been here before and it’s a culture shock, but I’m a quiet guy, so I fit in around here.”

In interviews—and away from the court in general—Bill Walker is indeed a quiet, thoughtful 19-year-old, with a girlfriend back in Ohio and so resolute a focus on his NBA future that he doesn’t have time for nonsense.

Funny, then, that so much else about him is loud. For one thing, there’s the way Walker plays. Attacking the rim, eagerly chasing loose balls and hustling to stop opposing scorers, he is an impossible-to-miss force of nature whenever he’s in a game. As new K-State coach Bob Huggins says, “I’ve seen Bill play since probably eighth or ninth grade, and besides the fact that he was always really athletic, the thing that stood out about him is that he plays with a great spirit. And that is still true.”

For another, there’s all that has been written and said about Walker by the basketball-observing press. When your high school hoop career is orchestrated more like that of a professional athlete’s, these things happen. Along with his mother and sister, Walker moved to Cincy from his hometown of Huntington, WV, during the eighth grade. The move was prompted by the advice of Walker’s AAU coach and father figure, Dwaine Barnes, who also brought Mayo to Cincy and helped enroll them both at North College Hill. For two seasons, NCH was the talk of the high school basketball world, winning consecutive titles and packing gyms throughout Ohio. There was also enough discussion of the pair’s careers and future that the Cincinnati Enquirer could’ve run a serial called “OJ and Bill” and sold tons of copies.

The hype around Mayo and Walker reached a crescendo last summer, when Mayo transferred back “home” to Huntington High and Walker was ruled ineligible by LeBron’s old friends at the Ohio High School Athletic Association for having played high school games at his previous school in ’02-03 before enrolling at NCH later that same year. Unable to play at the high school he’d grown comfortable at, but possessing nearly enough credits to get his diploma, Walker considered two choices: enroll at a prep school for one year, or graduate high school early and start playing college ball ASAP.

Motivated in large part by the fact that Huggins, who Walker had always wanted to play for, had a new team that was desperate for big-time players, Walker wrapped up his high school requirements, got cleared by the NCAA and moved to the Little Apple. As we went to press, lift-off was scheduled for the first game after first semester ends—December 17 in K-State’s case.

“I was disappointed, but I couldn’t let it break me,” Walker says of the OHSAA’s ruling. “I’ll always remember all the people that came to the games there and the fans that appreciated us. I was happy that I could bring some excitement to the community. But I had to find another way, another route, and I did that.”

While Walker concedes that he would have loved to say a proper goodbye to the NCH fans and play in the McDonald’s All-American Game as a high school senior, he doesn’t hesitate in saying that college was the best move for his game. “Going to prep school and playing against the same guys again, there wouldn’t have been any point,” he reasons. “It wouldn’t have been as much fun, and I want to challenge myself. I’m really looking forward to this challenge of playing against college guys.”

Bill’s not the only one gassed. “We can’t wait,” says Huggins. “I don’t know how soon he’ll be ready to play a whole game, but we’re going to play him as much as possible.”

During a 16-year career at the University of Cincinnati that ended prior to the 2005-06 season, Huggins often attracted even more attention than OJ and Bill, with his winning ways (a 399-127 mark at Cincinnati) mitigated in some people’s opinions by his insistence on recruiting troubled kids and a DUI arrest in ’04. Basketball-wise, he earned a rep for working his players very hard, demanding aggressive play at both ends of the floor. In any event, Huggins has long been able to attract top talent, and that hasn’t changed even at Kansas State, where the quiet atmosphere is coupled with a program that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since ’96. But with Huggins there, the Wildcats’ lack of hoops history didn’t matter to Walker.

“I wanted to play for Bob Huggins. If he would have stayed at Cincinnati, I would have been a Bearcat,” Walker says before explaining his logic. “It’s his intensity. He wants to win, and he takes that to another level. He’s not going to let anybody slack, and he’s going to jump on everybody the same, every time. It’s not like because I’m who I am, he’s not going to say anything to me. He’s going to get on me like I’m the twelfth man. That’s what I came for. I know with his work ethic together with mine, we can do some great things.”

Without making any firm predictions, Huggins says, “I know that Bill’s going to be able to do a lot out on the court. For his whole life on the court, he’s been going to the basket and having success. But he’s worked on his shooting to the point that he is a very good shooter. He just doesn’t think that way all the time. If they’re going to play way off him and give him open shots, he’s going to need to step up and take them.”

“Everyone sees the scoring, but the thing about that is that my game isn’t just built around scoring,” says Walker, who averaged 21.7 ppg and 10.1 rpg last season at NCH. “I plan on coming in and doing a little of everything: helping the team rebound, getting assists, getting steals, being a force on the defensive end. I have goals—I want to be one of the best players in the NCAA, and I want to take this team to the Tournament. They haven’t been to the Tournament in 10 years, and I want to be part of the first group of guys that does it. I’m working toward that.”

Walker seems far too committed to winning to give K-State anything less than his best effort for as long as he’s wearing purple and white. But, even more than most top-10 prospects, he’ll be putting in his work with one eye firmly on the next level. “I’ve been looking at the NBA as where I was headed since the 10th grade,” he says. “I watch NBA games all the time, and I do it as an opponent of those guys. I still love watching them—I’m entertained and taken in by it—but at the same time, once I knew that was what I wanted to be, I watched more intently on what guys do and I started to take moves from some guys and implement that in my game.”

For Walker, no one gets copied more than VC. “I like how he evolved from being an all-out dunker to a shooter where guys had to play him honest,” Bill says. “Like Vince, I’m never going to be labeled as a jump shooter—I’m a slasher. But I do plan on adding that to my game so that it can be easier to do what I like to do.”

For the rest of this story and much more on Bill Walker, pick up SLAM 105, on newstands now.